I was introduced to Scattegories, by my now husband, whilst in halls in my first year of uni. It's a great game to play in a group, and a firm favourite in our friendship group and with our family.

To begin the game one of the players picks a list number (there are 12 different lists to play), and everyone playing gets a copy. The list names 12 categories (get it!) and the aim of the game is to think of something which belongs in each of these categories, within the time allowance. Easy. But to make the game more interesting, you have to roll a 26 sided die to decide which letter each of these things must begin with! Then the worlds loudest timer starts, striking instant fear into the hearts of players and manic thinking and scribbling ensues. Some catergories are easier than others e.g. 'a boy's name' - fairly easy to answer which ever letter you end up with. Others, like 'things in this room', 'insects', 'sports people' etc can get trickier.

So you get a mark for each category you correctly answer - the definition of 'corrently answer' often goes to the vote in our household as players push the boundaries of the catergory to the extreme. An example that will always stick with me was in answer to 'things that can fly' starting with the letter 'B'. A friend answer bullet. Does a bullet really fly? But you talk about a flying bullet?! So often a vote is necessary - and yes that can get tactical too!

As a further twist, if you name anything that someone else also says, you cancel each other out and no marks are awarded. So for 'farm yard animal' beginning with 'P', instead of writing 'pig' it might be worth saying 'piglet', but then if other people are being clever too they might go for the less obvious answers and the person who took the easy option may get the point!

All in all, this is a really fun game to play with friends and family and really gets everyone's brains ticking!